MUGEN - Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed

(car tires screeching) - What are you supposed to do with your life when your dad is Soichiro Honda? Yes, that is Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Company. Do you hang ten on your hugely successful father's coattails or do you go out and make a name for yourself? Well, if you're Hirotoshi Honda, you'll start one of the most successful engine manufacturing, custom parts manufacturing, and motorcycle creation companies of all time. This is

everything

you

need

to

know

to get up to

speed

on no Meugan, no Megan, no Morgan... Mugan! (electronic music) - Big thanks to Honey for sponsoring this week's episode of Up To Speed.

When I play video games, I use cheat codes to win because I can't stand losing to Nolan. Honey is like the cheat code for online shopping. Therefore, Honey will automatically find a coupon code, deal or discount on over 20,000 sites, such as Amazon, eBay or Auto Parts Warehouse. Check out this great deal I got on a PS4 so I don't have to play Nolan on X-Box anymore. It is free and very easy to install. Simply head to JoinHoney.com/DonutMedia and download it for your brah brah. Now, let's get back to the story. The story of Mugan can begin with the story of Honda.

In 1948, Soichiro Honda formed the Honda Motor Company and began producing motorcycles in a small 170-square-foot shack. Some might have thought it was a bad idea, given that the motorcycle game at the time was very saturated in the Far East, but his newly formed company was his baby and he wasn't going to abandon it. His motorcycles soon gained popularity for their good looks, reliability and ease of use, and soon Honda would become the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. In 1964 the automobile sector was already in full swing. During that time, Soichiro was also shaping another baby. A real human one.

His only son, Hirotoshi Honda. Like his father, young Hirotoshi acquired a passion for cars, motorcycles and racing, but he was never forced to follow in his father's footsteps, nor was he going to be given a place in the empire. Sling. Soichiro saw how the sons of other successful men could easily become failures in his family business and he didn't want that to happen to his only son. I wish my father, a very famous British car presenter, hadn't forced me to be one. A young and rebellious Hirotoshi did not want to join the family business. He wanted to travel the world, compete on motorcycles and cars and be calm.

Mahalo, darling. But you can only "mahalo, baby" for so long. I've been there, Bro-toshi. Hirotoshi was back in Japan finishing his university studies and working in his father's shop, building a Honda S800 racing car. (Engine roars) The kind of thing you do in your free time at university. He was passionate about tuning engines manufactured in the factories that bore his name and in 1973, Hirotoshi formed Mugen Company Limited of Japan. Mugen in Japanese means "unlimited" and the company was also

know

n as Mugen Power or Unlimited Power. The Mugen team set out to develop the best racing car engines from Japan.

Hirotoshi hired Masao Kimura, a former Honda R&D and racing service mechanic, to be his designer and chief engineer. During his time with Honda, Masao built over 15 different racing cars and motorcycles and had over 50 wins under his belt. He's not a bad guy to help you start your first engine tuning company; Well, basically, he was the perfect guy for the job. (Laughter) And they tuned the engines. The first racing engine they developed was the MF318, Honda's 1169cc 4-banger. The Mugen team took the 68 horsepower EB1 Dasa and increased it to 133 horsepower, the MF318 had a dry sump lubrication system, dual carbs and was bored to a maximum of 1300 cc which was allowed in Formula FJ1300 racing, therefore. , name. (upbeat melody) I should go back and correct myself a little.

I said they tuned engines, that's a little misleading. Mugen modified or completely remade every part of the original EB1. Calling them just a tuner would be unfair and disrespectful, my apologies. In December 1973, Mugen entered a car with the MF318 in the entry-level Formula FJ1300 Series and won its first race. They would continue to use the same powered car for the next five years. It was that good. His success in the FJ Series did a few things for Mugen. This made Dad Honda interested in the company. The backbone of the Mugen racing cars were Honda engines and at the time the Honda factory team was on a racing hiatus.

That means a break. They saw the Mugen brand as a way to get back in the game. Mugen continued to work on Civic engines, but in 1975 they saw a market for other racing parts and began selling their first body kits. Do you want your Civic to look like the Mugen on the track? No problem because you can order a custom body kit made in Japan and bring your first-generation Civic to life in no time. (Engine roars) This was unheard of at the time. While continuing to work on the MF318 and competing in the FJ1300 series, Hirotoshi received enough capital to expand his efforts into his other passions.

Motorcross, yes! Mugen got to work on his own custom 2-stroke dirt bike, the ME125 and ME250. Based on the CR250 Elsinore, the ME250 was, by today's standards, an off-road machine with a modified frame engine and suspension components. In September 1976, Mugen entered their fully functional ME250 motorcycle in the final race of Japan's national motocross races, the Japanese Grand Prix, and they won. And when your two-year-old company goes out and wins a major national competition in its first year of racing against Yamaha, Suzuki and your father's company, Honda, people start to take notice, okay? People say that?" Mugen was like that sexy girl in every '90s movie who walks into a party and

everything

goes into slow motion, Suzuki goes, "Who's that?" And Yamaha says, "Wow, wow, wow, wow." And Honda said, "Calm down guys, that's my son." But the ME250 was expensive compared to its CR250 sibling.

Then a year later, doing what Mugen does best, they started selling engine boost kits. Mo'power baby! The kit included a new cylinder head, expansion tube, piston, rings, gaskets and clutch components. Between motocross bikes, body kits and racing engines, Mugen was rolling in kabash. And in 1979 they expanded and opened their own factory in Japan. But, like my greedy brother Lars, Mugen had his hands in several cookie jars. By 1980, Hirotoshi had his own motocross team and was looking to expand into the American market. They hired promising racer Johnny O'Mara to pilot an ME125RZ in the United States.

Johnny, dressed in all-white clothing, aboard his all-white Mugen bike, looked like bloody Prince and won the United States Grand Prix of the GP Motocross World Series that year. (engine revving) It was huge for the program and cemented the Mugen brand in the United States as the motocross bike to have. And even cooler, you could buy the same bike Johnny used. This was unheard of, even today there is no way to go to the dealership and get a working factory racing motorcycle, it just doesn't "work" like that. Okay, enough of the motorcycle stuff. You're here for the cars, so let's get back to civics. (engine roaring) Just because the motocross program was getting a lot of attention, Mugen didn't want to deviate from her love for her humble Civic.

They were big in the Civic One Make race. Because the cost of getting a race-worthy Civic was low, it was a great way to get people racing. And Mugen sold racing kits that transformed his showroom Civic into a Suzuka circuit track machine. Just watch and listen to this clip from the Civic One Make's first race. (engines roaring) (confusing Japanese commentary) It sounds like a bunch of bees kissing each other. In 1984, Mugen dedicated itself to selling parts such as body kits, wheels and suspension. This was also the first year of Huahugit Mugen parts in the US. You can visit your local Honda dealership and order custom Mugen parts shipped directly from Japan, which is very, very cool.

In 1985, 10 years before Post Malone was born, Mugen was building engines for the CRX to compete in the SCCA GT4 class. Mugen took the 1.5-liter EW engines and upgraded them from the stock 76 horsepower to a super-potent, testosterone-fueled 165 horsepower. (engine revving) The car dominated the class and made Americans angry and upset. People wanted more of that Mugen race thing. But mastering FJ1300, SCCA, GT4 and Civic One Make racing gets boring, so they expanded into Formula car racing. The Japanese Formula 3000 Championship allowed V8 engines. Then Mugen went and built a V8 engine and they called it the MF308. By the way, if you've been wondering what "MF" means, I don't know, leave a comment below if you know.

I assume it means Morgan Freeman. So, the Morgan Freeman 308 is a 3-liter, 32-valve, 500-horsepower monster, revving up to 10,500 RPM. (engine roaring) And it was used in the series until 2005. Quick math, that's 17 years, kid! An engine used in a racing series for 17 years is crazy. It was that good. Alright, we get it, Mugen, you're good at building engines. What could you do next? - Hey, I think I know. - Okay, well, what? -Formula Oh? - Yes, you know this story, you helped write the episode. - In 1991, Mugen built its first F1 racing engine, the Morgan Freeman 351-8, a 3.5-liter, 40-valve V10 that generated more than 700 horsepower. (engine roaring) - Mm! - At the end of 1992, Honda withdrew from Formula One, but Mugen continued to supply various racing teams until 2000.

I should add that during this time, Mugen was still racing Civics in the JTC3 Class, not against horizons. And they were winning races. The '96 and '97 championships. (engine roar) As they took what they learned on the track and supplied those custom-made parts to the masses, meaning you and me, boys and girls. From exhausts to wheels to aerokits, Mugen's catalog was deep. - Yes, uh boss, we're about to go home, do you

need

anything else? - Start working on some concept cars. Here are some ideas I just drew on this cocktail napkin. Bye bye! - Oh man, we were almost done.

I shouldn't have asked him if he needed anything else to do things like this. - I don't know if you want to order pizza. - Yes, but I'm using the company card, heh. - You may be familiar with some of the concept cars Mugan built over the years, such as the 1992 Mugen NSX. An all-carbon composite version of the production NSX. They got rid of the pop-up headlights, which was a bad decision. (upbeat music) - The Mugen NSX concept really paved the way for them to start making more Mugen concept cars. And they used their concept cars to further boost sales of their custom parts.

The model they created was beautiful. Take the cars you already modify for Honda in the racing game, develop them further with your custom parts, take those parts and create concept cars that will never be released, and have people knocking on your doors begging you to sell them your spoilers. its wheels, its crankshafts, and anything else that made your regular Honda look and perform like a Mugen. They created such a stir with their concept cars that they eventually began selling limited production Mugen-badged cars from the factory. Like this one, the 2007 Honda Civic Mugen RR, a Civic Type-R in essence with all the special Mugen engineering bits added.

Mugen produced 15 more horsepower from the already strong 225-horsepower Civic Type-R. They lost 22 pounds thanks to the carbon composite bumper and grilles. Mugen made 300 of these cars, only available in Japan, of course, and for a price of almost $50,000 for a Civic. (engine roars) Do you think it's expensive? Well, the car sold out in 10 minutes and that's what makes Mugen, Mugen. (wheels screeching) Thanks for watching Up To Speed. I mean it from the bottom of my heart, guys. If you didn't see this, I'd be a weirdo yelling about cars at my friends. Also, what is your favorite Mugen car?

Let me know below in the comments. I love you. Well, anyone can drive it. The shift lever can be easily moved from one side of the seat to the other, depending on which one you are used to. That's just thoughtful. The mid-drive Civic is currently driven by Donut's friend Formula Drift driver Dai Yoshihara. SUP dog. - James, stop telling people that we are friends.